Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the next chapter of a Dusty Thief! It is finally time for this maestro to continue his piece of work. After a long summer break, a breakage of a computer, and... a break of the will, I have finally picked up the pieces to continue this story! Now, before we begin, I would like thank two people who have finally kicked me back into gear.
To Matt: I thank you for pestering me, because during that summer, I had my mind wander on... other, more darker things. If not for you, I would have given up on this piece. Since you have a part to play in this story, I have a present for you... not going to tell you what it is, though. Spoilers.
And to my great grandpa: Thank you, ya old coot, for being the best grandfather I could ever ask for. I'll get you that Seven Up you wanted soon but in the meantime, rest in peace.
Now... SHOWTIME!
"You… you're that guy from before, from the museum!"
Crap, she recognized me… better scram-
THWAK!
I rubbed my head, then I felt the weight of many things fall on my poor, thieving body. Popping my head up from the pile of stuff, I noticed Ruby's mouth agape.
"T-t-that's our stuff…"
Oh screw all kinds of duck… why does it seem that I can't catch a break here… I quickly got up and hit the floor running, bashing the door open and taking a right, down the hallway.
I just hope it doesn't get any worse…
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As Ruby watched the boy sprint out of the room, she snapped out of her stupor and grabbed her scroll in attempt to call her teammates. She was rewarded with Weiss picking up her scroll, her voice shaking slightly.
"R-Ruby! Where were you-"
"No time, Weiss! I found our thief!"
A pause. Then Ruby could hear her team scrambling to get out of the room. "We're coming!" Weiss said, her voice seething in anger.
Ruby placed her scroll on "mobile" and bolted out the door just seeing the black jacket of the klepto turn right. With a small burst of speed, she managed to get the thief in view.
Only to watch him vault over the balcony and turned in a one-eighty, the crashing of a window below gave Ruby the idea of where he went.
"He's on the next floor lower!"
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"He's on the next floor lower!"
Ozpin glanced at the camera screens on his desk… and of course, they're holographic. He chuckled with amusement as he watched the boy run past a couple in B hall on one screen while he saw Yang on the base floor by the door. No doubt to block the obvious escape route. He turned to Glynda.
"Glynda, could you order lockdown on all entrances and exits leading out of Beacon grounds?"
Glynda sighed. Not how she wanted to spend her evening… "Right away, sir… though, why not the whole school?"
Ozpin simply turned his attention to the screens again. "Time to see if our… curriculum is sufficient to handle the intruder."
With that, the headmaster flipped on the intercom…
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"Attention all students. We have the intruder in the premise. All staff and students should be ready to intercept the intruder."
AS IF MY NIGHT COULDN'T GET ANY WORSE!
I silently groaned. Now I have the whole bloody school on my tail!
"Hey, who's that!?"
Merde! I quickly turned around to go the opposite direction of the wolf-faunus female, who now has what looked like her team behind her. With a well placed step, I managed to jump back into a doorway, effectively making those students run down the hallway thinking they are chasing me. Oldest trick in the book…
I proceeded to run the opposite direction of the group, following my original path. Hearing footsteps, I turn to the window and opened it to escape and-
Wait a minute…
I look back into the now-open dorm room.
… Why the hell not?
I bolt into the room and hid under the closest bed, leaving the window in the hallway open. The footsteps got closer…
"He's outside!"
"Damnit! He must be trying for the docks!"
The footsteps now grew distant. With that, I crawled out of my hiding spot and glanced around the room…
There, a vent! I got up on the bed and pried it down. Probably going to bite me in the ass for not covering it up, but I really don't care right now. I hopped up and grabbed the edge of the vent, and began to climb into the metal tunnels for my treacherous crawl…
I seriously hope I can make it through the night...
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Weiss clenched her fist. From what Ruby told the group, it was that same thief as before, the ones that stole her earrings… and had the nerve of stealing her painting! She could not stand for being humiliated twice in a row by the same… thug! The thought of that devil's smug grin as he makes his way through Beacon…
"Hey, Weiss…"
"What?!" the heiress snapped, getting an eyebrow from Blake. Realizing who she just yelled at, she muttered an apology at the faunus.
"Sorry about that…" she said.
"No problem. I… understand what's on your mind. So, what do you think about this?"
Weiss looked at Blake. "About what?"
Blake pointed down the hallway. "Down there, team LILY saw a boy dressed in black, and gave chase down this hallway. Then from what team RSMY (Rosemary) reported…" she pointed down the opposite hallway, "that window was opened, and they gave chase outside."
"Right, and?"
"Well, since team CRDL went to go guard the perimeter after they found Russel in a janitor's closet, they reported no one approached them as they were watching that window as it opened."
Weiss blinked, then turned to the window, then to the open dorm door…
Which a certain vent cover was visible on the bed.
The heiress grew wide eyed, and took out her scroll…
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"... and then, I told her she should stop 'screwing' around with that drill of hers."
"Damn it, Klaus, and your stupid puns."
The blond haired male, Klaus Solace, glanced at his dark-skinned teammate. "What? It was good at the time, Conrad!"
Conrad Ebony simply sighed. "I will never understand you, your puns, and your so called 'Sun Praising'."
"You dissing the sun?"
"I'm not, I'm just saying-"
"This is Weiss Schnee from team RWBY! The intruder may be in the vents! I repeat, he's in the vents!"
Klaus and Conrad from team BLCK (Black) looked at the side vent with worry.
"Think he'll pop out of there?" Klaus asked.
"Maybe… why is it every time I join up with you, bad stuff happens!"
"Because we need Jolly Co-operation-"
A new voice butted in on the conversation. "Hate to 'drop in', but I'm in a hurry."
When the duo looked up, all they saw was a boot, and darkness afterwards. Though, Conrad did have one last mental complaint about the horrid pun as he blacked out.
Oh, irony…
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"I have radio silence on Conrad and Klaus from my team, Doctor Oobleck."
The history teacher nodded towards Blanco, the leader of said team. "Do go and find your comrades, as I suspect we may need them in our search for this thief!"
Blanco nodded, and walked out of the classroom. Oobleck sipped some of his coffee from his thermos. Playing radio chatter takes a lot out of the teacher, not because of all the talking, but because of trying to slow down. He goes to take another sip of coffee, but nothing came out.
Troubling times, indeed…
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I groaned as I stuffed the blond in the storage box, laying next to his partner. The way they were positioned close together would make for hilarious photo material for Alexis, but seeing how I'm in a hurry I close the lid loosely and walked silently to the door. Glancing down the hallway, I notice I'm quite alone. I pull up my scroll, and pop open a map. It shows me where the start of one of my many contingency plans I cook up while on heists, which of course, I never wanted to use. As I look through the list and waypoints on the map, I begin to memorize my path:
Reach Waypoint One in the storage facility.
From One, go towards Two, though the kitchen.
Head towards point Three, the Maintenance shafts, to reach the Security room.
Disable all the cameras and sneak to Point Four, the jump pad station.
Find some items to make a dummy to launch in the Emerald Forest to deter pursuers.
Reach the Mailroom and obtain cardboard box to be shipped out of the school.
There may be a password or a key to disable the cameras, so possible Point Three-A and Three-B objectives.
If reaching any point becomes too hard, or escape isn't possible, go to sewers to hide out until alert is down.
I close my scroll. Time to get to work.
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Meanwhile…
"So, Queen, I assume I have the contract information being delivered to me now?"
"Yes, but unfortunately, Beacon is currently under lockdown due to an intruder, so it may come later than usual. I assume they are checking all the scrolls."
"Explains the encryption… an intruder, you say?"
The Queen sighed. "Yes, some sort of thief. We're trying to find him along with the rest of the school. He may of heard some… 'private information'."
"Have fun with that. Black Mage, out."
The man hung up from the call, adjusting his top hat with a skull centered on the brim. His black cape shining like obsidian under the moonlit sky. He looks at the museum, scanning every inch of the structure. In two days, he should be getting his supplies, and in three to prepare.
The Black Mage chuckled. Now that some of the tougher competition was out of the way, he should be able to pull off one of the biggest heists ever seen in Vale. Well, since the Krimson Kaito's theft of the North Star Diamond. The klepto adjusted his half mask, shaped to cover his mouth and decorated like a skull jawbone. Shame that this is a contract job, but hey, he has to eat sometime… after all, it seems like a thief's life is that of a race.
… Maybe in more ways than one.